The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-10-06
A MONSTER IRoNCLAD.
Launch Of the Trafslgar--Her Armament an
Projectiles.

Launch Of the Trafslgar-Her Armament and
Projectiles.
The New York Herald publishes the
following account OF the launching Of
the Trafalgar, at P Portsmouth. England:
In the presence OF all the Lords OF the
Admiralty and an immense concourse
Of people. soon after noon. a war ship
of exceptionally powerful typewas
launched at Portsmouth to be added
to the royal navy as the Trafalgar.
She will be large and considerably
more formidable than any other
British ironclad at present afloat.
Although some huge Italian warships
exceed her. in tonnage displacement
and in heavy gun power not one OF
them is 40 we'll protected as the Ira.
falgar will be when finished.
She will dlsplace IL, $40 tons OF wa
ter, and will have cost not far short OF
100000 (about $4,000, OOO). As
she lies this. morning she has cost less
than $500, 900, and only $500 tons
of steel and iron have been working
into her massive hull. She is 345 feet
long and IS feet broad. Her coal
stowage is 900 tons in fore and aft
bunkers. Her armament is to con.
sist of four 13 1-2 inch 81. ton breech-
loading guns, eight 5-lnch breech-load-
ing Z ms. six 36 FOUNDER quick-tirlng
guns, eight 6-pounder and eleven B.
FOUNDER Hotchkiss quick-firing guns,
machine, boat and field guns
and twenty.four Whitehead torpe.
does.
The turret guns will fire projectlles
weighing 1850 pounds, with a powder
charge of $50 pounds. and will train
through an angle OF go degree. The
eight 5-inch guns will be mounted on
the upper deck between the turrets,
and will be protected on the sides OF
the ship from rife fire by two thick
nesses Of half. inch plating, and at each
end of the battery by armored bulk
heads one inch thick, fitted upon six
inches of backing and an inner skin.
These guns will train through sixty de.
grees on each side OF the beam. The
eight six-pounder Hotchkiss guns will
fire from the spar deck, but the three
FOUNDER guns will be distributed be-
tween the spar deck, the bridge, the
stern parts and the military ports.
There are eight torpedo tubes. tour
above and four below the water line.
the latter being fixed tubes. The above
water tubes are protected from ma
chine gun fire by two inch plating.
The vessel will be fitted with twin
screws. each driven by an Independent
set OF triple expansion engines, with
three vertical cylinders OF a collective
power of six thousand horses for each
set. The weight of this machinery is
to be about one thousand and thirty
tons. The crank and propeller shaft
ing are hollow and are made of com
pressed steel. The diameter of the
screw propellers will be about sixteen
feet.
Another turret ship, exactly like hel
and of her dimensions, is building al
Pembroke, to be called the Nile.
The Daily News, commenting on the
event, says: "It is not improbable
that these two monsters will be the
last of our very big ironclads. Nc
others of the first class size have. dur
ing the past two years, been laid down.
and among naval constructors the
! conviction is now rapidly gaining
ground that. for practical purposes
! vessels OF moderate tonnage always
provided they are of great speed
will be found more useful than levia
thans. Our present ignorance of ths
realities OF modern naval warfare rur
us into dangerous risks by investing
in the construction OF single ironclads
sums which otherwise disbursed woulC
-; provide whole fotilla OF fast cruisers
armoured gunboats and swift torpedo
vessels"